Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-05-06

n livelihood. Had it not been 1or tne i"ise
number of secret labor organizations u
this country monopoly would long as9
have. under its ponderous wheels, groulluu
the laboring classes INTO an lntoieihoie
seryitude, The men who want The whole
earth to themselves would have go! ~ {
fore this, had it not been for the banning
together of great secret organizations:
And, while we deplore many things tha1
have been done by them, their existence is
n necessity, and their legitimate sphere
distinctly pointed out by the providence
of God. Such organizations are trying 10
dismiss from their association all mem-
beers in favor of anarchy and social chaos.
They will gradually cease anything axe
tyranny over their members and will tor
bid violent interference with any mans
work, whether he belongs to their union or
is outside of it, and will declare their dls-
gust with any such rule rs that passed IN
England by the Manchester Bricklayers
association. which SAYS any man found
running or working beyond q regular speed
shall be fined two shillings and a sixpence
for the first o%fiense, five shillings for the
second, ten shillings for the third. and If
still persistine, shall be dealt with as the
committee think proper. There are secret
societies in our colleges that have letters of
the Greek alphabet fortheir nomenclature,
and their members are at the very front in
scholarship and irreproachable in morals,
while there are others the scene of carousal,
and they gamble, and they drink, and they
graduate knowing q hundred times more
about sin than they do of geometry and
Sophocles. In other words, secret socie-
ties, like individuals, are good or bad, are
the means of moral health or OF temporal
and eternal damnation. All good people
recognize the vice of sIandering an indi-
vidual, but many do not see the sin OF
slandering an organization.
There are old secret societies in this and
other countries, some of them centuries
old, which have been widely denounced rs
immoral and damaging in their influence,
vet 1 have hundreds of personal friends
who belong to them, friends who are'con-
secrated to God, pillars in the church,
faithful in all relations of life, examples
of virtue and piety. They are the kind of
friends whom I would have for my ex-
%ecutors if l am SO happy as to leave any
thing for my household ct the time of de-
cease, and they are the men whom I would
have to carry mt out to the last sleep when
I am dead. You cannet make me believe
that they would belong to bad institutions.
They are the men who would stamp on
anything ubiquitous, and I would certainly
rather take their testimony in regard to
such societies than the testimony of those
who, having been sworn in as members,
by their assault upon the society confess
themselves perjurers. One Of these secret
societies gave for the relief of the sick in
1873, in this country, S1,490,274. Some
of these societies have poured q very
heaven of sunshine and benediction into
the home of suffering. Several of them
are founded OF fidelity to good citizenship
and the Bible. I have never taken one of
their degrees. They might give me the
grip 1000 times and I would not recognize
it. I am ignorant of their passwords, and
But Christ has given us q rule by which
we may judge not only all individuals, but
all societies, secret and open. "By their
fruits ye shall know them" Bad societies
make bad men. Good societies make good
men. A bad man will not stay in a good
> rsociety. A good man will not stay in a
bad society. Then try all secret societies
by two or three rules.
Test the first: Their influence on home,
, if you have o home. That wife soon loses
, her influence over her husband who
nervously and foolishly looks upon oil
evening absence as on assault on domesti-
city. How are the great enterprises of re-
!, form, and art, and literature, and benef-
cence, and public veal to be carried on if
every man is to have his world bounded on
one side by his front doorstep, and on
the other side by his back window, know
ing nothing higher than his own attic OF
> lower than his own cellar? That wife who
, becomes jealous of her husbands attention
, to art OF literature or religion or charity is
T breaking her own scepter of coniugal
power. l know an instance where a wife
, thought that her husband was giving toe
, many nights to Christian service, to
, charitable service, to prayer meetings, and
to religious convocation. She Systematically
decoyed him away until now he attends nc
church, waits upon no charitable %institu-
l ton, and is on a rapid way to destruction,
l his morals gone, his money gone, and
fear his soul gone. Let any Christian
r wife rejoice when her husband consecrates
/ evenings to the service of humanity, and of
God, or charity, or art, or anything elevating.
But let no man sacrifice home life ia
secret society life, as many do. I can
} point out to you o great many names of
men who are guilty of this sacrilege. They
are as genial as angels at the society room,
{ and as ugly as sin at home. They are
generous on all subjects of wine uppers
yachts and fast horses, but they are stingy
about the wives dresses and the children's
shoes. That man has made that which
might be q healthful influence q usurper of
his affections, and he has married it, and
he is guilty of moral bigamy. Under this
process the wife, whatever her features,
becomes uninteresting and homely. He
becomes critical of her, does not like the
dress, does not like the way she arranees
her hair, is amazed that he ever was SO nm
romantic as to offer her hand and heart.
There are secret societies where member.
ship always involves domestic shipwreck.
Tell ME that a man has Joined a certain
kind, and tell me nothing more about him
for ten years, and 1 will write his history If
he be still alive. The man is a wine
guzzler, his wife broken hearted or IRE
ma9urely old, his fortune gone or reduced.
and his home q mere name in the direc,
tory. Here are six secular nights in the
week. "What shall I do with them?" saws
the father and the husband. 81 will give
four OF these nights to the improvement
and entertainment of my family, either ot
home or in q good neighborhood. Twill de.
vote one to charitable institutions. I will
} devote one to my lodge"
l congratulate you. Here is a man who
says: "Out of the six secular nights of the
week l will devote five to lodges and clrhs
and associations and one to the home
which night will spend in scowline liz,